Using Public Storage Facilities

Every one of us have excess or extra stuff that needs to be stored. Many have a garage, attic, or basement that you can pile things in but these get cluttered and over flowing too. The logical solution would be to weed through these things and discard those that we really don't need. But what happens when we have weeded through these things and there is still a bunch left? If they are in the way, there is an alternative. Find a public storage facility or mini storage and warehouse them there.

Then there are some who are moving from one place to the other. Again, the best bet is to store these items at a storage facility. Here are a few useful tips if you decide to do this.

Security

1. Always look for a facility that has an onsite manager to watch after the place. This is a big deterrent to thieves.

2. Make sure the place is fenced in with a gate and well lit. Check with them on gate hours. The best is one whose gates are open twelve or more hours a day. Even better if they have a gate with a pass code.

3. When choosing a lock for your unit, there are several types. But the one type that deters a thief is the round barrel lock. These are hard to cut because they are so hard and there are few places for a bolt cutter to reach.

4. Place all your really valuable stuff to the rear of the unit. ie., stereos, tv's, appliances, etc. Thieves don't want to stick around too long after they've broken in and digging deep into a unit is the last thing they want to do.

Critters and Moisture

1. Many storage units are built near open fields or patches of trees. It's near impossible to keep rats, mice, and squirrels away. Some opt to place rat poison or repellants in the unit.

2. Almost all public storage units are built on concrete slabs. To avoid damage from moisture, place your stuff on pallets. Some storage businesses supply these.

3. Make sure your things are insured. Many storage units only insure their buildings, not the contents and the responsibility to insure your things falls on you. Many insurance companies have rider policies that will cover this.
About the Author

Tim Davis is an experienced ghostwriter who’s website is at http://101info.org/articles/. This article was written for AAA Pioneer Storage in Athens, Tennessee. Their website is at http://101info.org/pioneerstorage/.